Merry Christmas
by Dreamer-of-Tears
Summary: Dee gets sick at Christmas and only has Ryo to take care of him. One shot, Dee/Ryo, yaoi, slash.


Author's Note: My friend and I made a scrapbook for a friend of ours for Christmas. In it we had twenty one shots of twenty different slash pairings that we wrote over one weekend. Yup. Ten stories each in one weekend. That was fun. Anywho, after giving her the present, we decided to put our stories up on . So, here is one of them. To read the stories my friend wrote, visit her page at steelagainstivory.

Each story we did had a different theme. This one we called 'sweet and finalistic'. It was the last story in the scrapbook. So, enjoy and review it if you so wish. I love reviews! Unless you are a flamer, in which case, get a life that does not corrolate with mine.

And, if it isn't obvious, I do not own the characters. Only the situations I put them in.

Merry Christmas

Ryo opened up the door to Dee's apartment and was met by silence. All of the lights were off and no heat greeted him.

"Dee?" Ryo called down the hall as he attentively made his way inside. "Are you home?" He heard a faint groan coming from the living room. "Dee?" he called again.

He carefully made his way to the light switch and flooded the room with light. Sprawled facedown in the middle of the floor was a semi-conscious Dee Latner. He had taken his shoes off, leaving his feet in socks. His heavy winter jacket was still sprinkled with snow, and his ebony hair was soaked from the flakes that had already melted.

"Dee?! Dee, are you okay? What happened?" The young detective knelt down next to the fallen man and turned him onto his back. Dee's face was flushed with a fever, and his breathing was uneven.

Ryo placed his hand on Dee's forehead. "You're burning up. I need to get you to bed. C'mon." With some effort on Ryo's part, and some groaning on Dee's part, the two finally stumbled into the bedroom. As Ryo slowly lowered Dee onto the mattress, Dee mustered the last bit of energy he had in order to pull Ryo off balance and onto the bed next to him.

"Must . . . take advantage . . . of . . ." Dee muttered as his hand shakily went to the other man's jacket and tried to unzip it.

An extremely annoyed Ryo grabbed Dee's hand in one fist, as he pushed him in the chest. "Get. Off."

"Ow. That hurt, Ryo," a now fully alert Dee complained as he nursed his injured chest. "I'm sick, you can't hurt a sick person." He coughed to emphasize his point. "Especially on Christmas Eve, of all days."

Ryo leveled a glare at Dee. "Well, what were you doing laying on the floor in the middle of the night with no heat on in your apartment?"

"Actually, I had just gotten home. I was about to take care of everything when I just kinda collapsed," he replied sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head. A cough escaped in the middle of his laughter.

Ryo sighed before standing up. "Wait here. I'll go get you some medicine." Ryo went to the medicine cabinet and grabbed cold medicine and a small towel before going into the kitchen. There he filled a cup and a small bowl with water. All the time, thoughts of what could have happened if he hadn't gotten here when he did, filled his head. "Idiot."

When Ryo walked back into the room, he found Dee had already changed clothes and was lying in bed. Without a word, he handed over the pills and glass of water. When Dee was finished, he took the glass and placed it on the bedside table. As Dee laid back down, Ryo placed the damp towel on his feverish forehead.

"Where's Bikky?" Dee asked as he closed his eyes.

"At my apartment. Carol is keeping him company." Ryo studied the man lying before him. His disheveled black hair contrasted against his flushed skin. His breathing was still irregular and a light sheen of perspiration could be seen on his chest where his shirt fell open. "What were you doing?"

"When?"

"You know when."

"I suppose it's close enough." Dee opened his eyes and sat up. He reached over and took two pieces of paper out of the drawer in the bedside table. "Merry Christmas," he said as he handed them to Ryo. "I remembered you said that your favorite band was playing at Madison Square Garden. I already talked to the Chief and got us the day off. I hope the seats are close enough. Do you like it?"

Ryo couldn't believe it. He stared down at the tickets. Row five. He must have stood in line, in the snow for hours. Ryo finally looked at Dee. "Thank you so much. It's perfect."

"It's not that big of a deal, really. I'm just glad you like it. Ah-cho!" If Ryo wasn't mistaken, he would swear that Dee's flushed cheeks got a shade darker.

"I do like it," Ryo smiled. "Now, back to bed, invalid," he demanded, re-adopting his serious demeanor.

"What? Not even a thank you kiss?"

"No. No thank you kiss. Lie down."

"Fine," Dee sulked, but obliged him.

Ryo replaced the rag on Dee's forehead. "Go to sleep. You need your rest."

"You sound like a worried mother, Ryo," Dee commented as he closed his eyes again.

"And who's fault do you think that is?" Ryo retorted, his eyebrow twitching.

Dee simply laughed as he started to drift off to sleep. Within a few minutes, he was snoring.

Ryo took this time to just watch him. His features were relaxed in sleep and it made him look even more handsome. Ryo looked down at the tickets in his hands, still marveling at the thought Dee put into the present.

Ryo looked over at the digital clock sitting next to the bed. Midnight. He smiled as he looked down at the man he loved. "Merry Christmas," he whispered as he gently placed his lips over Dee's.

---*The Next Day*---

"Who is it from?"

"I don't know. I haven't opened it."

"Then open it."

A shiver of apprehension went down Ryo's spine as he tore open the letter. Inside was a plain Christmas card. The only note was, "Merry Christmas, Berkley." Uh-oh.

"Who is it from?" Dee asked again.

"Um . . . No one?" Ryo attempted to lie.

"Ryo. Who sent you the letter?" Dee tried again, sterner.

Ryo finally gave in. "Berkley."

The murderous glint in Dee's gaze made Ryo gulp.

"Hey, what's this?" Bikky asked, picking up two pieces of paper by Ryo's feet. "Oh cool! It's front row tickets to your favorite band, Ryo."

"Lucky. I heard that people stood out in the snow for hours to get those tickets," Carol added.

Ryo laughed nervously as he looked up to gage Dee's reaction. "Dee?"

A black aura slowly swirled around Dee. His eye twitched as he exploded. "I'm going to kill him! Ryo, let go of me. He has to die!" Dee raged as the other three held him back.

Ryo laughed at the spectacle in front of him, as he tried to think of a nice way to return Berkley's present.


End file.
